The Burning Pain
by Hiljik
Summary: Whar if something even worse happened to Katniss when she got caught in the fire in the games? This story is about katniss and she gets even more injured and escapes the flames to find she's left to defend her injured body in front of the career pack
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! So this is my first fan fic and I hope you enjoy. Sorry if nothing makes sense in advance because this is my first one so I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing, so yea I hope you enjoy. Oh and I guess this is rated T for mild swearing maybe and violence. I mean this is the hunger games. ;) Oh! And I guess I should also do a disclaimer because last time I didn't do that I got in trouble on YouTube. So, I don't own the hunger games this all goes to Suzanne Collins for her brilliant work and for giving me an idea for a really cool story, and some of the stuff I use might be from the book/movie just to get the story rolling. So this is taking place when Katniss gets caught in the fire during the games. And I decided to use the setting from the movie and not the book just case I thought the river was better than the little pool.**

_Keep running, keep running. Come on Katniss you can make it just keep running._

And that's when the tree falls right in my path. I know I'm in trouble now. This tree is huge and it's burning brighter than the sun. I'm beginning to feel claustrophobic now. I feel like I'm trapped in a box, where I can't escape. I'm beginning to panic now. My breathing is quickening. My throat burns from the smoke and heat.

_Come on you got this girl _I think. _Just run around this tree and you'll be fine. You can do this. _

I've made my way around the tree now and am beginning to run again. My eyes are starting to tear from the smoke and it's making it harder to see. That's when the first fire ball flies towards me. I hear it hiss past my ear. I'm sprinting faster now with a newfound fear. The second fire ball blasts through the air and I have to duck in order to escape its fiery path. This causes me to trip. I land on pile of rocks and scrape my hands and knees. I look up to see a fire ball skin my right leg. I clench my teeth through the pain. This hurts so much. But I have to keep moving because in no matter of time another fire ball blasts right into the place I was just sitting.

I'm beginning to think that the fire is starting to recede, when I step on a bear trap. I let go a gut wrenching cry, and as I crumple to the ground another fire ball blasts right into my forehead. The pain is unbearable. I clench my right calf in hopes to somehow stop the pain but it's not working. Definitely not working. Next is my face. Fortunately it didn't catch fire, but its left badly burnt and bruised, and I'm dizzy. My vision is all blurry and I think I'm seeing stars. This has happened to me once before when Gale and I had gone hunting in the woods and I had slipped on some ice to feel the exact same results. Multiply that by 20 and you now have the pain in my head. The word concussion pops into my brain. Oh how I just want to fall into unconsciousness and escape this pain. But I can't. I have to keep moving to avoid being burned alive. I have to escape for Prim.

I'm up on my feet again doing a half limp half jog. Oh how pathetic I must look like right now, but the pain is my excuse. The pain wants me to crawl in a dark cave and die. To escape this pain would be luxurious, but there is no such luxury in the Hunger Games. I'm at the edge of the tree line now. I carelessly stumble into the river up ahead. Not thinking about whether there are any tributes nearby. Hopefully if there are any they're just as wounded as me.

I sink below the water and scream. This is where no one can hear my pain. This is where no one can see me weak, crumbling under the pain. This is where I can die.

**Alright so that's the end of chapter 1 and there are many to follow, hopefully quickly. So I hope you enjoyed my first ever fanfic and sorry for any mistakes that I didn't catch, I'll try and do better next time. Any ways even more action packed events to unfold. Seriously, like I really want to publish that right now but I can't because it's late and I have school tomorrow. Toodles!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everybody it's me again! And so far no reviews…. BUT I have gotten some notifications saying that people added this story to their favorites list or added it to their story alert list. So THANK YOU for doing that, it makes me feel so glad that people actually found my writing interesting enough to want more, so I love you. Anyways here's chapter 2 and it will be longer as well as better in terms of literacy and events to unfold.**

"I sink below the water and scream. This is where no one can hear my pain. This is where no one can see me weak, crumbling under the pain. This is where I can die."

I resurface and push myself up onto the edge of the river bank. I begin to examine my wounds. I start with my face. I take out my pack and remove the water canteen. It has a shiny silvery surface and I can see my reflection in it. What I see is horrible. On one side my face is fine with only a few scratches here and there. The other side is much worse. It's a sickening shade of red where it puffs up, and anywhere that it's not swollen it's a deep purplish colour from bruising. The sight of my horrible features makes me nauseas. I look away and start on the burns on my leg. These burns look heavenly compared to my face. It's only a small patch of pink burning skin. Next is my ankle, where the bear trap got me. I'm not sure why there was a bear trap in the middle of the arena, but then again this is the Hunger Games. I don't know how to take it off, so I try to pull it apart. This causes pain to shoot up my leg and I let out a weak cry. My ankle is throbbing. I have no idea how I'll be able to survive another minute of this pain, gnawing away at my soul, then an hour with this pain, then a whole day and to fall asleep at the mercy of this wound, to wake up to the same horrible pain. The bleeding has lessened but it's still oozing out. The trap in general is stopping the bleeding mostly but small amounts still escape.

I don't know if it's the smoke that has clouded my head, or the pain that causes me to not think strait, but hiding doesn't cross my mind. I'm too focused on trying to tolerate this pain. When I hear a branch snap behind me it seems to clear my senses a bit. I whip my head around but don't see anybody. I look up to the trees and see a small squirrel scampering up it. Surely it wasn't the squirrel that made the sound, but it sounded like more of a small child. It may have just been a racoon. The squirrel reminds me of freedom. Oh how I wish I could just escape this pain by climbing up a tree, when it dawns on me. I'm sitting here wounded. Anyone could easily kill me right now. I am in no shape to get up and run, to fight for my life. I can barely make it just sitting here.

I try to stand, but I instantly know that's not an option. I try dragging myself to the nearest tree. But I can't do it. Let alone try and climb a tree. I'm too weak. I'm sitting on the side of the river, in a wide open place where there's no place to hide. I lay down beside the river totally helpless, and wounded. I slip into a troubled sleep.

I awake to what feels like a small pebble being thrown at me. I don't know where it came from and it makes me panic. Who threw this at me? Was it a bloodthirsty career, waking me so that he could see the terror on my face as I die? Or did I just imagine it? I relax my tensed shoulders when it happens again. Another pebble hits me. I sit up worried now. It's definitely not a coincidence, and I didn't imagine it either. The sun has dipped below the horizon now and I am beginning to feel chilled. I see light up ahead. I instantly know I am in trouble. The rocks where meant to warn me. I look behind me and see different trees rustling in a row, almost as if someone were hopping from tree to tree and I know that it was little Rue, who tried to save my life. But I was too stupid to react fast enough. I look back to the oncoming light and hear voices. It's the career pack.

They crash through the trees and into the open space. I get up on my feet and pull out my knife, might as well go down with a fight. I see them smiling and laughing. It makes me so mad to see that they're enjoying this. The boy from 2 slams into me and we fall onto the ground hard, him on top of me. We flew a few yards and by the time I regain my senses he has disarmed me. I try to get on top of him. Maybe I can choke him to death or something. But he's very heavy and has me pinned down. There's no hope for escaping. He points his sword at my throat and gives a sly smile. "Any last words?" he says smirking. I spit in his face. I don't want to look helpless and defeated. He slaps me in the face. I put both of my fists together and slam them into his nose, hopefully breaking it. He leans back and covers his nose with his hands. That frees me a bit and I manage to push him off of me. I try to get back onto my feet when he slams into me again, knocking me back farther. I fly through the air and land a few yards away on my bad ankle. I try to hide my cry of pain through clenched teeth.

"I didn't like that!" he screams in my face," I didn't like that at all!" he slams his foot down on the ground for good measure. "Well I guess I'll just have to kill you right now!"

He brings his sword up to his head, aims it at my heart and is just about to bring it down hard when Peeta's voice stops him.

"Wait!" he shouts. Everyone looks at him. A million things are rushing through my mind right now. I'm curious as to what he's going to say. That little traitor of him, and I thought he loved me. "Maybe we should wait until morning."

"Why the hell would we do that?" asks Cato, the boy eyeing me down. I can tell he can't stand that Peeta stopped him mid kill.

"Because! Can't you see she's wounded? If we leave her till morning she'll have to go through a whole night in horrible pain." He says. His last words send a chill down my spine. "It'll be torture. Wouldn't you enjoy the fact that she'll be tortured by the pain?"

"Lover boys got a point. Cato maybe we should just tie her to a tree and wait till morning to kill her. It's a good idea." Says the girl from district 2.

The others agree. Cato slowly agrees and says," but only on one condition. I get to kill her."

**OOOH! Really bad cliff hanger… anyways here is chapter 2. I meant to publish this yesterday but it had some major editing to get done and I just didn't have enough time. Who knows this took me like ten minutes to edit today, maybe you'll get two chapters in one day!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok chapter 3 on your way! So continueing from where we left off, what is gonna happen to Katniss? Read and find out! And I love you all like fishs**

The others agree. Cato slowly agrees and says," but only on one condition. I get to kill her."

A shiver runs down my back. I'd rather have Gale kill me then Cato. I know that Cato will make it a painful one, after making him pissed off from all the times I've showed him up.

"Get up!" He demands. I'm slow to my feet. Once I'm up my head starts spinning. I try not to show it, but I have to squeeze my eyes together to try and calm my brain. "Let's go back to camp."

He slaps the back of my head to get me moving. It sends me spinning to the ground. "Come on!" he shouts at me. I'm too dizzy to get up. The world is spinning around me, sending trees looping around. I can't get up; my world is too tipped over. I desperately look at Peeta. He catches my gaze and holds it. I send all the desperate in my gaze as possible.

"Let's go! Get up! Hey lover boy, keep moving!" I'm forced back to my feet. Cato presses his sword into my back to make me go. My mind is spinning. What just happened? Peeta. Oh Peeta. What did I ever do to you to deserve this horrible fate? I try to form a plan, to somehow escape. Before I thought Peeta was just acting with the careers. Some desperate plan to survive. When you're fighting for your life out here in the arena, a strange insane instinct crawls inside you, and you do things you don't think you would usually do. I bump into the girl in front of me, and realise that we're already at the camp.

The careers set up their sleeping bags and gather around a fire. That makes me mad._ Just set a fire. Who cares who will see it, 'cause we'll kill them instantly_. Unfortunately I don't get a sleeping bag. Instead I get my hands tied together with rope that gets tied to a tree. The careers get a nice meal to eat, while I get nice yummy air to eat. Great. I don't think I can make it through the night, and apparently that hasn't crossed the minds of the careers either. I stare at the careers. Watch them laughing and joking, their acting like their on a camping trip, not like they're in an arena fighting for their lives.

Another hour passes before the careers finally settle down to sleep. I see them all snuggled cosily in their sleeping bags nice and warm. Meanwhile I'm tied to a tree, freezing my ass off. But of course my body decides to keep reminding me about the pain from my wounds. It's unbearable. I clench my teeth to try and hide the pain I'm in, for Prim. For my mother. For Gale. Before I know it, I'm slipping into some strange haunting sleep. One of those sleeps where you don't get rested, one where you get more tired.

PEETA'S POV

I can't say I'm proud of it. But I had to. I had to join the careers. I had to say those things about Katniss to protect her. She may never like me again, but it's worth the risk, because I'm about to make things right again hopefully. I felt horrible about saying that we can torture her, but it was necessary. Because what I'm about to do now is balls out risky, but I'm confident I can do it.

It seems like forever until I'm absolutely certain that the careers have fallen asleep. I slowly crawl out of my sleeping bag, and stand up. I tip toe over to Katniss's bag, and grab it. I look inside to see all of the supplies. It looks like she was in a hurry to escape those flames, because the sleeping bag is all stuffed up in there. I take out the sleeping bag and role it up neatly. I stuff it back in the bag and creep over to the food supplies. I stuff a sack of apples in it along with a package of crackers, a box of rice, a bag of dried nuts, and a small pot. That was all I could stuff in the bag.

I slowly creep toward Katniss. I'm not sure if she's asleep or not, but she hasn't noticed me yet so I guess not. I sling the pack over both my shoulders and bring out my knife. I cut the rope. I start to work on the rope wrapped around her hands. This wakes her up. I can see in her face that she is confused. Oh those eyes. I can barely see them in the darkness, but they are still there. Those gray sparling eyes…

"What are you doing?" she hisses at me.

I clamp my hand down on her mouth. "Look I'll explain later, but right now we've got to get out of here." She understands the desperation in my voice, and nods her head. I stand up and try to walk over her legs, when I accidentally kick her bad ankle.

She lets out a small shriek, but clamps her hand to her mouth. She doesn't show it on her face, but I can see in her eyes, how much pain I have caused her. I feel absolutely horrible. I kneel down beside her.

"Oh Katniss, I'm so sorry," I tell her, "I didn't mean to." She nods but I can tell she's slipping. She's passed out. I stand up I'm about to pick her up and escape when I remember the bow and arrows. I snap my head over to look at Glimmer. The arrows are lying beside her, but the bow is held firmly in her grasp. I know I have a choice here from between life, certain death, and slow certain death. I choose life. I creep over to wear she lies. I grab the arrows and sling them over my shoulder. Now for the hard part. I slowly flutter my fingers over her hand. I slowly start rubbing my hand in a circle over her fingers lightly. She takes her other hand now and slaps her hand. Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for, but anyways I try again. This time with a different approach. I take my hand and hold hers. I squeeze it lightly and rub it with my thumb.

"Cato?" she whispers. Her eyes still closed.

My stomach does a little flip flop. My nerves are on end. I'm so scared.

"Hey, babe?" I say uncertainly. "Shh, just go back to sleep. And let go of the bow, it's making your knuckles go white."

"Mmm, Cato what if she steals them?"

"She won't." I promise. Doesn't mean I will. She lets go and I take it. _Score!_ I say to myself. I rush over to Katniss and pick her up. _ Don't worry Katniss we'll be safe soon._ That's when I hear it. Murmuring coming over by Glimmer. I need to get out of here fast. And then I hear a scream.

"My bow! Where is my bow?" Glimmer shrieks. All of the careers are now awake for sure. "You!" she points at me.

I see Cato get up and grab his sword. _Dammit I should've stolen his sword as well. _"What is it Glimmer?" he asks.

"Lover boy stole my weapons and is escaping with her!"

_All I can think is I am fucked_

Cato grabs his spear instead and throws it my way. I run full speed into the woods. I can hear him chasing after me. Why did Katniss all of a sudden has gotten way heavier. Maybe it's just the extra dread that I am now on the route for certain death that's weighing her down. I find a small cave along the river and plop her down there. Good she's well hidden. I keep running because I know Cato is still after me. I loop around and go back the way I came. I hide behind a bush. I see him. He stops all of a sudden and looks my way. We make eye contact.

He's seen me.

**Ta-da! Wow that took a while to write. Sorry guys gotta stop there cause its late. I may update tomorrow or in a few days not too sure. Gotta recharge the old idea banks. So anyways thanks for reading! And please someone review so I know how my writing is!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright I'm back. So ive have gotten some review from the last chapter and I am thrilled! So first don't worry Peeta wont die. And well Glimmer had to be gullible because well, it wouldn't have worked and you see it on tv all the time! So here is chapter 4. Cato just spotted Peeta, and Katniss is somewhere in a cave. **

"He stops all of a sudden and looks my way. We make eye contact. He's seen me."

He rush's toward me with his sword by his side. I have ten seconds to react or I'm toast. Maybe surprise will be my advantage. I move my feet into position. I grip my knife, so small against his big sword. When he's about five feet away I throw myself into the air and onto him, we role onto the ground struggling against each other. I manage to get on top of him; I start to punch his face. He somehow gets his feet under my stomach and pushes me off of him. I fly a few feet before landing on my back, knocking the wind out of me. Cato gets up behind me and slashes at my leg. I had only seconds to try and move my leg out of the way. He didn't miss.

"There. That should give you a nice painful, slow death." He spits on my face before walking away. I watch him walking away. He doesn't look back to make sure I'm not following him. He doesn't look back to make sure he cut deep enough to wound me permanently. I shake my head at him. What a stupid guy, so driven by anger. It can't be healthy.

I look down at my wound. It's a bad cut on my left leg, but surprisingly not as deep as I thought. Hopefully I'll heal up quickly because my focus is now on Katniss.

KATNISS'S POV

I awake in a strange cave. For a few moments I forget where I am. Then I remember. I'm in the Hunger Games. I volunteered for my sister. Peeta said he loved me. I got wounded in a fire. Peeta went against me and almost had me killed. And then… he saved me…

I look out the opening of the cave. I see Peeta limping towards me. A gash in his leg. I'm about to get up and help him when I remember my ankle almost got cut off yesterday in a fire.

"How are you?" he asks.

I shake my head. I don't know what to tell him. I want to tell him death would be better, but then I would sound so weak. And it would break Prims heart.

"What happened?" I ask. He tells me. He explains how he waited for the careers to fall asleep. Explains how he took some supplies. I look in the bag and see the food and all of my stuff. And he explains how he got my arrows. I nod.

"But of course I forgot the most important thing," he says.

"What did you forget?"

"A first aid kit, they had a handful of them at the camp, but I was so high strung it didn't even cross my mind. I'm so sorry."

I look into his eyes. I can see how sorry he truly is and I know its breaking him inside. "It's alright," I reply, "I can just grit my teeth and toughen it out."

Just then we hear a loud clunk, just outside of the cave. Peeta goes out to investigate. He comes back inside with a half-smile on his face.

"What?" I ask curious as to why he's smiling. And then I notice what's in his hands. I see the silvery parachute glinting in the moonlight.

"Haymich," he whispers. He opens the case to find a first aid kit with all the basic supplies and more. Along with all the bandages and pills and what not, there's a strange cream, I'm not too familiar with. Burn cream, thank goodness. A strange bottle of pills I haven't seen before, must be from the capitol. A pair of pliers, and an ice pack all lay in the pack. I can't imagine how much this must've cost, but I'm forever grateful.

Peeta takes out the ice pack and orders me to put it on my face, where the bruises and burns are. He next takes out the pliers and goes to work on the bear trap. While he's working on that I take out the burn cream and apply it to my burns. It's heavenly. The constant sting stops immediately, and I let out a sigh of relief. I then put the ice pack back on my face. Who knows maybe I'll be able to recognise myself tomorrow.

It feels like hours, but Peeta finally removes the trap. I can see that he worked up a sweat trying to figure the thing out. When he removes the trap I feel a sigh of relief come to my throat, but it stops when I feel a new wave of pain hit me like never before.

"Katniss I'm going to put this cream on now. It's supposed to keep infection out. It might hurt a bit but you're gonna have to stay with me," He looks into my eyes and I can see the concern on his face. So now it's my turn again to grit my teeth and toughen it out. I nod.

He smears some cream onto his finger and lightly dabs the wound. I instantly wince and I hope he didn't catch it, but no such luck. He slowly dabs some more on and I can feel my mind slipping again.

"Katniss just don't think about it, you'll be fine." He tells me. He leans in and kiss's me. I've never been kissed before and it should've made some sort of impression on me, but all I can register is the fact that his lips are unnaturally hot.

"You're burning up," he tries to change the subject but I stubbornly keep at it. "No you need something to help your fever. Here take some fever pills."

How convenient. The kit had fever pills in it. That wound on his leg must be worse than it really is. I can't pass out now. He takes the pills and continues on my ankle. I close my eyes and start counting. An old trick I learned when my hunger pains got really bad. It distracts me and helps with the pain. Soon enough he's done and I can already feel relief in my ankle. That must be some powerful stuff.

I take the cream from Peeta and try to put it on his leg wound but he refuses.

"You need it Peeta! That wound looks horrible," I exclaim.

"No Katniss I'm fine and plus. You need it more."

"No. You're not fine. I don't want to lose you Peeta," and I finally realise I truly don't want to lose him. It seems like ages but I finally get some cream on his wound. We snuggle up together in my sleeping bag and try and fall asleep for the remainder of the night. The way he holds me is so comforting and protective I don't want this moment to end.

I want to live in this moment for forever. Forget all the stress from the rest of the world and stay here. To have this moment for life.

**End of chapter 4! Alright so I'm absolutely horrible at writing about romance, but oh well. It's not like I'm a professional. So I hope you liked this chapter. I honestly gotta say it's probably the worst one of them all, but please enjoy. I didn't get a cramp in my arm while writing this for nothing. So please review and enjoy! And please tell me want you want in the next chapter. Should I continue from here and try and get these two love bird to win the games? Or should this be the end and the rest is for you to dream up in your crazy minds?**


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